‘ANZAC: Diary of Harold Rydon 1914-1917‪’‬

Harold Rydon was working at Euri Creek, a few miles from Bowen, Queensland when war was declared on August 5th 1914. He rode to Bowen that afternoon, joining up as a private in the Australian Army, and, after training, was shipped to Egypt, Lemnos and eventually Gallipoli where his unit was in the vanguard of the ANZAC landings on April 25th 1915.

Rydon reached deep inland before being injured and his unit fell back. He returned to Gallipoli in July that year and, after the final evacuation, joined the nascent Royal Flying Corps in England and served on the Western Front through much of 1917.

This diary has been transcribed from the original, typescript, document and has been made available for the first time. This is a useful primary historical source for any historian or student of the Gallipoli campaign and of the early days of the Royal Flying Corps.